On an internship at the University of Białystok since March 24, I have been able to volunteer as part of the Invited Professor programme.
So in the morning, I work remotely with students from the native Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University, and in the afternoon, I hurry to the course students. The first of my groups I’m teaching Polish from scratch are temporarily displaced residents of Bucha and Bucha district, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Lysychansk, and Vinnytsia. The course participants are aged between 17 and 60. Initially, the group consisted of 17 people, but with each lesson, this number is continuously growing. The second group was formed online from orphanage educators evacuated from Ukraine, to whom the Białystok City Hall kindly allocated a vacant city orphanage.
The extraordinary involvement of teachers and students of the University of Białystok in helping Ukraine, both Ukrainians and those remaining in our region, is stunning. With the Faculty of Philology management, I had the opportunity to attend one of the recreational classes for children from Ukraine in the university assembly hall. Enthusiastic about the competitions and master classes, the participants did not even notice the unexpected guests. The whole floor is in yellow and blue colours: ribbons and balloons hanging around, the Ukrainian flag above the main entrance, and a heart-shaped painting with blue and orange palm prints on the large Whatman. The message at the entrance: “Feel at Home.”
The University of Białystok has bought season tickets for the city’s ice arena to train members of the Ukrainian national team in short track. The other day, they set off to the World Cup in Montreal (Canada).
We support our people, because one of the participants of Polish language courses is there, Maria Dovgopolova from Kharkiv, representing Ukraine on the world sports arena for the third time. On April 8, a column of more than a thousand participants marched through the evening streets of Białystok along the traditional Way of the Cross with 14 stops for prayer. This year, they prayed for Ukraine and an end to russian aggression. From the first days of the war, the Ukrainian flag along with the state Polish and Białystok the white-yellow-red, flags has been flying over the city. Every step of this international solidarity brings us all closer to victory.
Svitlana SUKHARIOVA,
Head of the Department of Polish Studies and Translation
